Notes from A Cottage Industry

Inspiration pieces.

I shared a short while back that my Mom (The Sewing Queen) was moving. Now that the actual move is over, we are ready to begin the fun part of making her new place a jewel box of a home, and we needed a starting point.

She really loved the look and feel of her home back in Nevada, and so we are going for a similar, cheerful cottage look, but we were struggling a bit with what colors to use. She was sure she wanted some pastel greens, but beyond that, we were unsure. That is, until I happened upon a fabulous set of china at a yard sale.

I had previously found two place settings of the same china several months ago, and was planning on selling it in my booth at Camas Antiques. So charming and sweet, I was going to do a clever place setting display when I had more things to coordinate with the dishes, but hadn't gathered the right pieces as yet. A couple of Saturdays ago I scored the additional six place settings, and I was thrilled.

I was still planning on selling the set, and finally, this past weekend, the little lightbulb in my head flickered and I realized we had the inspiration pieces we needed to get the ball rolling full speed ahead on the colorway for my Mom's new home.

I hopped on the computer and started searching out area rugs. Her furniture is all neutral, which made it easy for us to get creative. When I landed on Overstock.com's rug section, I found just what we were looking for! My photo doesn't portray the rug color quite right, and we will know for certain once the rug arrives, but I think we have a great match with the rug and the charming china!

I love it when a thrifted find makes all the difference in planning, don't you?

Weekly words to live by.

(Photo taken by me at the fabulous El & Em event last Sunday in nearby Battleground, Washington!

Weekly words to live by.

Making some changes in my booth space at Camas Antiques...

I was down at my booth last night working on changing things up a bit, and wanted to share a peek.....

For those of you in the area, Camas Days are this Friday and Saturday (as well as First Friday!) and so you should pop in to take a look around! All the booth vendors have added new finds, and there is no lack of eye candy....just sayin'.

Weekly words to live by.

Taking on the small window at Camas Antiques for National Ice Cream Month.

I have been wanting to share photos from the small window display at Camas Antiques all month, but with everything that has been going on, time got away from me.Last night was what we call "Dealer Night" at the shop, where the store is closed, and vendors can come down to restock, rearrange, and make as big a mess as need be to freshen their booth spaces. While I was there I was able to snap a few photos of my window display... (It's pretty difficult to get a good shot with glare issues during the day, and night.)

July is National Ice Cream month, and I started off with that as my theme. (Harder than it looks, when trying to keep everything vintage!) It is now slowly evolving from there....

My new line of custom tees, all with a Junk theme, are showcased as well.

If you're in the Portland-Vancouver area, be sure to stop in this weekend to shop our sidewalk sale, (Some incredible venodrs!) and take a gander at my window in person!

 

I never miss an opportunity to bake. (or attend a fabulously put together party!)

...and in this case, it was for a surprise double sixtieth birthday party! My daughter's in-laws (as well as being my friends) both hit the big six-oh recently, just a month apart, and that called for a party of epic proportions.

Plotting and planning and many secret meetings involving grown children, and family and friends began months in advance of the top secret party date. An old shop on the property was completely gutted, demoed, renovated, and reinvented into a magical rustic party venue, complete with Edison and twinkle lights, misters for the hot summer night, some key vintage furniture pieces, and bales of hay creating both seating and tables.

 

They decided on a Mexican food theme, with a taco truck, and a salsa bar.(It was muy bueno.) A cookie buffet provided dessert, and allowed many of the family and friends to participate by sharing a dozen or two of their favorite cookies. (I jumped in on that action, as you can imagine. I was excited to use my "6-0" cookie cutter again!)

I made the cake, (because, ummmm...birthday party.) which was a simple, eight inch french vanilla cake with buttercream frosting, perfect in size for us to all sing happy birthday, and have them blow out the candles.

A grand time was had by all, and the birthday girl and boy were truly stunned at the incredible amount of work and transformation that had taken place right under their noses!

#bigsixoh! #Ilovetobake #happybirthday #partyshop

Seeing the world through new glasses.

I am now the proud owner of two new pair of specks, and I am pretty tickled about them.

I rushed to get my eye balls examined as soon as I was laid off from my grown up girl job, as I had only a few days left on my regular work insurance to take care of my over-due eye exam, and order new glasses. I had remembered an experience one day, about a year ago I think, where the bank teller at the drive up window had the cutest glasses ever, and I complimented her on them.

"I got them at Walmart" she said.

No way!

Way.

Anyway, this little piece of shopping advice had been stored away in my mind ever since that day, so I scampered on down to Walmart to see what they had...so to speak.(Unplanned pun, there.)

Sure enough, I found quite a few adorably cute eye glasses! I had the optical tech give me her honest opinion, as well as the other employee working, and before you could say Men don't make passes at girls who wear glasses, I was paying for not one, but two fabulously sweet pairs of glasses.(Including the insurance to replace scratched lenses, thankyouverymuch. And, priced lower together than I have ever paid for one pair elseware.)

And, they both are two toned.

(So cute!)

My new glasses arrived today, and I picked them up, lickety split. I'm not sure what I am more excited about now, my stylish new eye-ware, or the price I paid.

Weekly words to live by.

Weekly words to live by.